The present invention relates to a wire holding structure for a connector housing, and more particularly to a wire holding structure for a connector housing having a wire holding member provided in the housing so as to cover and protect electric wires having one ends connected to a connecting terminal accommodated in the housing.
Among connector housings for connectors for connecting electric wires, there are connector housings which are provided with various wire holding member so as to restrict the direction in which electric wires having one ends connected to a connecting terminal accommodated in the housing are led out, and to protect the wires by covering them with a protective member or the like.
For example, in a connector housing 1 disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-98473, an unillustrated connecting terminal connected to one ends of electric wires 2 is accommodated in a housing body 3, as shown in FIG. 9. Further, a retaining member 4 for preventing the connecting terminal from coming off in the rearward direction is provided on the housing body 3, and the retaining member 4 has an arm portion 5 for hooking the wires 2 at a predetermined position on the connector housing 1. When the retaining member 4 is attached to the housing body 3, by merely passing the wires 2 on the inner side of the arm 5, it is possible to prevent the entanglement or the like of the wires 2 during transport and storage, and alleviate a tensile force applied to the wires 2 during use.
However, the above-described connector housing 1 able to restrict the leading-out direction of the wires 2 to some extent by the arm 5 which is the wire holding member, but since a member for covering and protecting the wires 2 is not provided, there is a possibility of causing damage to the wires 2 during transport or use.
Accordingly, there is a type in which, as in the case of a connector housing 6 shown in FIG. 10, a protective cap 8, which is designed to protect the wires 2 having one ends connected to an unillustrated connecting terminal accommodated in a housing body 7 and the other ends led out from a rear end portion of the housing body 7 and to restrict the leading-out direction of the wires 2, is attached to the housing body 7 as the wire holding member.
Meanwhile, in a case where the wires 2 are inserted in a vinyl tube 9, i.e., a hollow cylindrical protective tube, for protecting the wires 2 led out from the connector housing 6 from the tensile force or heat during use, a plate-like holding portion 8a is provided at a wire-leading-out-direction end portion of the protective cap 8, and a adhesive tape T or the like is wound the plate-like holding portion 8a together with the vinyl tube 9 extending along the plate-like holding portion 8a, thereby fixing the vinyl tube 9 to the connector housing 6.
In addition, in electric connectors disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 2-227973, a pair of split-type covers serving as a protective cover have a retaining portion for engaging a neck portion of a connector housing and has a corrugated tube holding groove, and the neck portion of the housing and an end portion of the corrugated tube are nipped and fixed by the split-type covers, thereby protecting joint portions of a cable and the housing.
Accordingly, the cable having one end connected to an unillustrated connecting terminal accommodated in the housing is protected by the split-type covers serving as the wire holding member, and the direction in which the cable is led out is restricted by the split-type covers. In addition, the corrugated tube serving as the protective tube is fixed to the connector housing as the end portion of the corrugated tube is nipped and fixed in the corrugated-tube holding groove in the split-type covers.
However, in the case of the connector housing 6 shown in FIG. 10, the vinyl tube 9 together with the wires 2 must be wound onto the plate-like holding portion 8a of the protective cap 8 by the adhesive tape T or the like, so that there is a problem in that the operating efficiency in assembling is not good. In particular, in a case where the direction in which the wires 2 are led out is restricted in such a manner as to be oriented toward the front end side of the housing body 7, since the plate-like holding portion 8a extends in such a manner as to be laid along and in close proximity to the side surface of the housing body 7, the gap between the housing body 7 and the vinyl tube 9 becomes narrow, so that the operation of winding the adhesive tape T becomes difficult.
In addition, in the case of the electric connectors disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 2-227973, the operation of fixing the corrugated tube to the connector housing is relatively easy by the use of the split-type covers such as those described above, but the retaining portion and the corrugated-tube holding groove must be formed in the split-type covers. Further, in the case where the end portion of the corrugated tube is nipped and fixed by the split-type covers, since the presence or absence of an allowance for holding (nipping state) by the corrugated-tube holding groove becomes important, so that there arises the need to provide a window allowing the nipping state to be viewed so as to ensure reliable fixation. Accordingly, there has been a problem in that the shape of the split-type covers becomes complex, resulting in a rise in the manufacturing cost.